§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will list for each of the last five years the number of cases in respect of which a recoverable overpayment of supplementary benefit arose showing (a) the percentage relating to claims from the estates of deceased claimants, (b) the percentage which resulted in a prosecution, (c) the percentage which did not result in a prosecution but in which recovery action was taken and (d) the percentage in which no recovery action was taken.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that because the total number of recoverable overpayments of supplementary benefit is not known, it is not possible to give these percentages. The only information available is as follows:
Overpayments of supplementary benefit recovered from estates of deceased claimants Year Number of Cases 1976–77 3,448 1977–78 3,152 1978–79 3,306 1979–80 3,640 1980–81 4,238
Prosecutions for suspected supplementary benefit fraud Year Number of Prosecutions 1976 12,437 1977–78 17,658 1978–79 19,956 1979 18,427 1980–81 20,105 The 1976 and 1979 figures are for calendar years. The remainder are for February to February periods.
The number of cases in which recovery action was taken but there was no prosecution is not known.
306W
Irrecoverable overpayments of supplementary benefit Year Number of Cases 1976–77 366,179 1977–78 379,211 1978–79 406,703 1979–80 353,786 1980–81 361,643 The figures include cases in which no recovery was sought and those in which recovery action was unsuccessful in whole or in part.
§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when a revised edition of the supplementary benefits appeals tribunal guide will be published.
§ Mr. NewtonThe guide to procedure for supplementary benefit appeal tribunals has been revised by the senior chairmen, and their final draft was received in the Department at the end of last week. Arrangements are being made to publish it as soon as possible.
§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when a revised edition of the supplementary benefits handbook will be published.
§ Mr. NewtonA revision is in hand and will be published later this year.